randomness from opening weekend of MiRF

[wendyzski]

Otherwise known as 'Dress Rehearsal'

• There are 6 turns between Chicago and Flint. We managed to miss 3 of them. Who the hell leaves on a 6-hour road-trip without looking at a MAP first!?! (Boys...)


• The Motel 6 in Flint is actually just fine. Our non-smoking room smelled faintly of smoke and we found an empty pack of Newports on the floor, but since all we really want are clean sheets, hot running water, and towels, it's perfectly acceptable.


• The faire office managed to lose our passes from last year. At first everyone was like "well, did you turn them in last year?". As I suspected, because we were not there closing weekend, when we turned them in, someone put them "someplace special so that they would know where they were". They were eventually located in the back of someone's drawer.


• We have the morning dance, 4 stage shows, Queen's Tea, and Pub Sing. Because of this we were able to only have to do one set with the peasant dancers - because 9 sets is a bit much!


• The 4 sets are all at the Little Guinness Pub - Proud to be the Last Un-Amped music stage on site!


• Queen's Tea has yet to actually run according to "plan", but as pretty much everyone involved is experienced and good at improv that isn't really a problem.


• It was wonderful to see gretchen2149! (Finally) We met online in the old days of Wench Chat, and have kept in touch since. She was visiting relatives in South Bend, and dragged them up to MiRF, in part to see us! It was rather funny "OK - someone is coming to see us. But I have no idea what she looks like!"


• She is also the source of my favorite quote of the weekend. "Wow - you're TALLER than I thought you'd be!". I've NEVER been told that!


• As usual, we were virtually the only act on-time to Pub Sing, so we opened. Bob Ford and the Ragamuffins were also there on time, so they went twice - we went three times. Plus Caleb and Kevin (who were already there) that was pretty much it. I am constantly boggled by the fact that musicians don't show up to the Pub Sing - yeah it's a loud space and there are a lot of people who talk through the show, but you know what - this is your JOB and you're supposed to act like professionals.


• I begged Vince Conaway to show up to help fill time, so in return he set me up to play bodhran with him on a number that I didn't know goes up to light speed. I ended up throwing my bodhran and tipper up in the air and conceding - much to the amusement of the audience. And I'm OK with that - audience liked it, and I didn't have to sing AGAIN. I freely admit I have no pride when it comes to getting a laugh.


• Happily, our best show was the one I noticed the ED watching from behind a tree. A decent-sized crowd all paying rapt attention. Yay us!


• The cheese breadsticks used to be a great value - they were filled with cheese and came with dipping sauce. Now they just have cheese on top, and so it's basically bread - for $4. I has a sad. And now I am on a quest for reasonably-priced not-fried food for lunches.


• I love when the bar volunteers are from choirs or other musical groups. They are polite during the sets and appreciate the music. As opposed to the baseball players, who chat on their cellphones all day and refuse to stop yelling at passersby while we are playing.


• I did my good turn for the week - there were a couple of new music groups, and of course no one had actually taken time to brief them on things like where to get water, or a backstage privy, or the office, or the parade line-up site. So I ran a couple of quick tours for people. It's paying it forward - we spent 2 weeks at KCRF our first season hiking all the way from the tea garden to the beer garden stage for water because no one told us there was a break area about 50 feet from our stage!


• It's weird being half-cast and half-stage show. I went to the fight director on Saturday and said "All right - 'Scenario For Dummies'. What do we need to know". Which was a good thing, because apparently the entire village has a severe case of the stupids because we're not supposed to know that that is macaodghain in that mask (despite him being a full head taller than everyone else, AND despite his forgetting to take off his Order of the Garter when he changed on Saturday...).


• I'm tired this morning but not too badly - mostly in a fatigue-fog. Some rest, laundry, a decent meal, and actually getting the )&($(%)*&(*#( CLOSING scheduled today would help.

Comments

[rileybear67.livejournal.com]

Okay - first thing to do when we get there is ...
find out where the hell the Little Guiness Pub is!!!

Can't wait to see ya'll in a couple weeks!

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Go in the front gate. Stick to the left wall. Go past some booths, the mud pit, and some food places. It's between some food places and the games.

[macaodghain.livejournal.com]

It's not called "Severe Case of the Stupids" it's called "Dramatic Idiocy" which is a condition closely related to "Dramatic Blindness". It's the same reason why we never see the bad guys sneaking up on us, but extrapolated.

[woody-whistler.livejournal.com]

I remember the old "Wild, Wild West" show, in which Artemus Gordon who frequently show up in a disguise that everyone saw through except, of course, the villains.

And, for that matter, how many people don't recongnise that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person because Clark wore glasses!

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

it still would be nice if stage acts and/or merchants got a briefing to let us know if we're not supposed to notice something.

It would prevent things like my standing there on opening day asking another cast member "Why is Captain Saffron wearing a mask?"

[cozit.livejournal.com]

LOL and it's perfectly period! (After all, King Henry VIII always expected that *no one* would recognize him when he dressed up (or down).. whether or not he chose to wear a mask... but definitely when he did... even though with his height and hair it'd be hard to get the guess wrong if you'd seen him before. Only one who *didn't* figure it out was Anne of Cleves... and that didn't go so well for him, because she actually treated him as what he portrayed himself to be!)

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I didn't have any trouble keeping up with Vince on guitar.

Vince Conway

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

Say hi to Vince for me. I met him years ago at Marcon (Ohio, not to be confused with Marscon in Madison), at some point between 1998 and 2000. Saw him years later at the now gone Ontario Renaissance Faire, when he kept wondering, "Why do you look so familiar?", between 2000 and 2003. Last saw him leaving the Bristol parking lot and I was upset that I didn't know he'd be performing there, some point between 2003 and I think 2006. Considering that, I suppose it would be appropriate to see him at some other out of state event this year! :P

Got his first two albums.

Re: Vince Conway

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah... Mention that I'd request "The Scotsman". Yeah, THAT demented tune. It kinda has "special meaning" for Vince and I, as in him insisting, "NOT my idea!", and wishing he actually had the music for the songs my then boyfriend Drew had requested.

My request was certain to help him remember me. At Marcon, every time more than 2 people in kilts walked by (and I do mean damned near EVERY time), people would start singing "The Scotsman". Also, at one time, I had a tape of Vince & Davroz in the dealer's room, doing a "dueling banjos" sort of thing. Davroz was playing two recorders at once. Vince was playing his mandola. After about the third strain, Vince said, "I give up..." as Davroz kept playing two recorders at once.

Not that I'm giving your group ideas for what to do with a recorder. Oh no, not me! >:-)

Re: Vince Conway

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I think I met that guy - he was playing something traditional irish and I came up with my joke about "They always say 'and I never will play the Wild Rover no more' and then 20 minutes later they're doing it again! I wish they'd STOP already!"

[sisucore.livejournal.com]

So was it mud or dust this past weekend? I think me and the man are going to head up there on the 31st.

[woody-whistler.livejournal.com]

Mostly dust. We missed the rain that hit Wisconsin on Sunday evening.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

dust

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

Definitely dust. I had the UBB's (Ubiquitous Black Boogers).

[gretchen2149.livejournal.com]

{{{{HUGS}}}} Hey!! I used to be taller, by 2.5 inches. :pout: So I thought you were supposed to be way short-er than me. ;) Thanks for the mini-tour - I'm hoping next year we can do the whole weekend! :D